Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-01-08
HOME AFFAIRS.
GEORGES NISE.COLUMN ATTACK
ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Whisky the Cause of the Late Rail-
road Accident-TroubIe in the
Indiana Legislature.
ESPECIAL DISPATCHES TO THE RECORD UNION.
THE OHIO DISASTER.
Probability that Whisky Was Responsible
for the Affair.


CLEVELAND, January 7th.-The INQUEST
| into the cause of the Baltimore and Ohio
| Railroad wreck at Republic, O.. was begun
| this afternoon at Tiffin A special to the
Leader says The City Hall, where the in
quest IS being held, was crowded. The
first witness examined was L. +. Fletcher
conductor of the freight train. He said /:
| Ed Killer was engineer of the freight,
and w. ]. Callison, fireman. We ran from
| Titfin to the Seneca siding, about three and
| one-half miles east OF here, and side
tracked for the Eastern express. After this
| train passed we had .forty-five minutes in
which to make the Republic siding. We
left this place with 40 pounds of steam.
After getting two miles l noticed that the
train was Stacking. went forward over
the cars, eighteen in number, to the engine
to see what was wrong. l found that the
steam had run down to forty pounds. |
opened the door of the furnace and looked
at the fire, then looked at my watch, and
saw that we had but four minutes until No.
8, the west-bound express, was due. | took
the red and white lamps and ran ahead to
flag her. | got about 100 yards in the curve
and signaled to stop. As the express ap-
preached, | noticed that the engineer had
reversed his engine. In the meantime the
freight had come to a stand and the en-
gineer had shut off the steam and Jumped
of, when the collision occurred.
THE ENGINEER HAD BEEN DRINKING.
/ saw him take two drinks of whisky at
Bloomdale, and two at Fosteria When |
saw We had but four minutes in which to
make the siding at Republic the engineer
did not seem to realize the danger ahead.
| tried to get the passengers out Of the
burning cars. One man was jammed be-
tween the smoker and ladies car l tried
to get him out, but the flames drove me
away, and he had to burn. heard no
shrieks or cries of others in the burning
cars"
w. J. Cullison, fireman on the freight,
was next called. He said he was 4 fam
hand, and had been on the road but three
weeks, and never knew anything about the
business before. He said I'VE had trouble
to keep up the fire. We had 40 pounds of
steam when we left Seneca siding. The
train ran four or five miles, when the
steam was down to 60 pounds. We were
then going about three miles per hour.
The conductor came in and looked at the
fire, and said it was all right. When the
conductor went ahead to flag and saw the
express coming he yelled back for us to
jump. After the collision occurred tried
to get persons out. saw persons in there
tell but little about it"
Thomas Heskett, of Wheeling, W. Va,
conductor of .the express Oh the night of
the collision, testified: 1.-The express was
three minutes late at Republic. l had
about sixty passengers, fourteen or fifteen
in the smoker. OF that number five
escaped from the smoker, two by being
thrown out of the top of the car uninjured,
and three somewhat injured think there
were not more than ten killed. have in
my possession cards thrown from the
smoker bearing the name CT NJ a. Parks,
Washington, D. G. There was writing on
the card, which brother of the dead man
recognized. OF the number killed the
names of seven are known"
b. ]. Hale, of Rowan, Ind, was the rear
brakeman on the freight and when the
collision occurred he took the lantern and
went in the rear about mile to flag any
other train that might be coming
The inquest will be resumed in the
morning